Mintwhisker's Treason
by littlemisslibrarian
Summary: Mintwhisker, a loyal but antisocial warrior, is thrust into the role of deputy, which will be much more than she bargained for as she struggles between loyalty to CoalClan and loyalty to its leader.


Author's Note: I am also posting this on the Warriors Amino under the username galaxywolf. As always, I accept and appreciate constructive criticism even if it's harsh.

Mintwhisker sat with her paws tucked beneath her white belly. The gray patches on her fur blended with dappled sunlight filtering through the tall oaks that shielded CoalClan's camp. Her dark green eyes, flecked with brown, were half-closed as she surveyed the camp. Every cat was back from the day's hunting and the fresh-kill pile was full for the first time in a long time. The sun had started to sink below the horizon, giving everything a gold tint. From her vantage point in the corner between the warrior's den and the camp wall, she saw every cat sharing tongues. Content, she let out a single purr and closed her eyes.

She sensed a shadow falling over her and opened her eyes again. She jumped back with a cry that turned into a hiss. Her tail bristled. Two huge blue eyes filled her vision, framed by a gray mask and ears. The kit jumped back in surprise, and Mintwhisker saw that her paws and tail were gray as well, but the rest of her coat was cream-colored. The kit sat on her hind legs, rabbitlike. When she stood on all fours again, Mintwhisker hissed again as she got a good look at the kit's front legs.

One front leg was permanently bent forward, and half the size it should be. The other front leg was bent in a similar but less severe way; she could almost believe there was nothing wrongwith it until she saw the way the paw turned slightly inward. The kit's normal-sized hind legs looked huge by comparison. Mintwhisker couldn't tear her eyes away.

"Hello! I'm Rabbitkit! I'm five moons old! I would have been out sooner but Mama didn't want me to get hurt."

"Rabbitkit," Mintwhisker muttered. "Makes sense. Well did your mama ever tell you it's rude to sneak up on cats like that?" She unbristled her tail and sat down with it curled around her paws.

"Your eyes were closed! It's not my fault you don't pay attention to your surroundings!" Rabbitkit stood on her hind legs, squinting her eyes in an attempt to look tough.

"Smart-mouse." Mintwhisker's whiskers twitched in amusement.

"Hey! That's bad language!"

"It's only bad language for kits. I'm a warrior. I've fought in many battles. I can say whatever I want." Mintwhisker flicked her tail.

Rabbitkit went back to standing on four paws and looked up at Mintwhisker with eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Oh, that's right! Mama told me you were the one who got shook by a dog! Do you still have the scar?"

Mintwhisker stood up, her back suddenly aching, and stalked away without another word. She let her legs carry her through the camp toward the entrance. She glanced behind her to make sure she wasn't being followed. Rabbitkit bounded after her much like her namesake, and Mintwhisker rolled her eyes. She whirled around and swiped a paw, claws sheathed, through the air above the kit's face, clipping her ears. Rabbitkit stared at her, stunned, and fell over onto her side, blinking at her in confusion.

Several cats looked in their direction. Mintwhisker felt their eyes scorching her fur.

"I didn't even hit her! Tell them, Rabbitkit!"

"She did hit my ears kind of hard," Rabbitkit said apologetically.

Mintwhisker raced out the camp entrance and kept going until she reached the river. She slumped to the ground and let one white paw dangle in the cold water, watching the eddies it created. She let her fur lie flat now that she was finally alone again. Kits couldn't leave camp, and that little incident would blow over. In the meantime, she could catch a fish and give it to Rabbitkit as a peace offering.

An orange tabby tom with white paws settled down beside her. Mintwhisker made a big show of getting up, flicking water off her paw, and moving down the shore away from him. He followed, either not taking the hint or not caring.

"So I see you've met my sister Rabbitkit," said the tom.

"Sunpelt, leave me alone." She glared at him, and he stared at her with oblivious excitement in his orange eyes. One eye was filmy with scar tissue. He might have been born that way, or he might have injured his eye early on, no cat really knew, but he was half-blind in that eye. When he purred hard enough, as he was doing now, his eyes crossed.

"You live in a Clan. You can't just be alone all the time. And now that we finally have kits in the Clan, you're not going to be able to! Who knows, you might end up mentoring one."

Mintwhisker groaned. "Now that you said it, I know it's going to happen." She hadn't joined the other warriors in visiting the new kits for that very reason; she didn't want to be seen as the type that could be responsible for another cat.

"I'd love to mentor an apprentice, but I don't think I'll be chosen because they don't like to pair siblings because of bias or something. But maybe there's a chance. I'm from a different litter so we didn't grow up together"

"Stop talking, mouse-brain. Or if you want to talk, talk about literally anything else."

Sunpelt bristled. "Wow, who made dirt on your fresh-kill? Alright, if you're going to be that sour, I'm leaving."

"I didn't ask you to come," Mintwhisker said, turning her attention to the shadows of fish in the river.

"You looked lonely," said Sunpelt.

"I'm not," Mintwhisker snapped.

"Okay. Fine. Good luck fishing." He stormed away, leaving Mintwhisker alone at last. She trained her eyes on the shadows flickering below the sparkling surface of the river, hovering one paw over the biggest one... slowly... slowly... slowly she brought it closer until... _smack!_ Harder than she meant to, she hit the fish with her paw and hooked her claws into it. She dragged it onto the shore and delivered the killing bite. She stared at her throbbing paw in confusion.


End file.
